Oh also why doesn't the USPS just say "Fark You" and make it 50 cents for a stamp already? And also say "Fark You" to the various catalog mailers and raise the bulk rate too, because... what the hell else are they going to do? Stop mailing stuff?

I work in a mail room. Every time someone sighs melodramatically at a yearly increase of a penny per stamp, I challenge them to deliver a letter to the closest city for cheaper than the cost of that stamp. If they can do it, cool. Otherwise, they can STFU.

A gallon of gas costs ~$4. If the average car gets 25MPG, that means you can go 6 miles for a dollar(assuming that starting your car burns 0 gas). So, if your letter is going farther than a mile and a half away, it will cost you more to drive it there than to mail it. And that same stamp means you can mail a letter to Honolulu or Key West for exactly the same cost.

Gas goes up weekly, and outside of a few articles about how those wacky Californians are paying through the nose, no one kvetches "oh, no one drives anymore. With telecommuting and Skype, I don't have to visit people, let's let the roads grow over."

So man up, pay the twenty cents more for the book of stamps that will lat you all year, and stop your goddamned whining!

The Dupa plan to rescue the post office & make the world a better place...Charge 4 cents for every e-mail & text sent.One penny would go to the NSA, and one to the FBI, to help cover the expense of reviewing your mail. For national security purposes, of course. You want security, right?A penny for the children. Because it's for the childrenAnd, of course, one penny to the Post Office, so they can keep delivering buggy whips.

hbk72777:Cue the morons who only read the headlines. Deep in the article (not this shiatty one), it raises the prices of flat rate envelopes and boxes 10%. I've been selling on Ebay for years, but the buyers have just about dried up. Between Ebay and the Post Office increases the past decade, they're pricing themselves out. If you have ebay stock, sell now. That cute little new logo and redesign of the site does nothing to fix the problems of lack of customers. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to shop there anymore. That little padded envelope is now $6, the large flat rate box, which isn't that big anyway, is now $17. The flat rates were invented to send heavier items that didn't take up a lot of truck space. Clothes, toys, small machinery/car parts Now, at that price,why bother? Just go to the store.

I used to be a heavy eBayer. Now with Amazon Prime, I only go there to buy used video games because fark GameStop.

Bathia_Mapes:There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

Somehow I have a feeling that if we stopped subsidizing your landlord's idiosyncrasies, he'd find a way to get over them and get his money.

Plus, get over yourselves Urban dewellers..Some people that live in those 'grand glorious' internet tough guy areas..don't have daily delivery for mail, via FedEx, UPS. While USPS delivers to those locations.

Plus if you save the junk mail..they make good fireplace starters when you shred them and put a little wax and kerosene on them.